Gilda Morelli

Gilda Morelli

Ph.D.

Contact

Education

Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology, University Massachusetts at Amherst

Research Interests

The sociocultural and ecological aspects of infants' and young children's development, with interest in the close relationships children develop with the people who care for them. The relation between caregivers' perception of material and psychological scarcity and tradeoffs they make that impact child and family experinece and functioning. Public policy, livelihood, and child well-being.

Department

Biography

Gilda Morelli has devoted much of her career to exploring the intricate factors that shape the development of infants and young children around the world. Her expertise includes the ecological and cultural basis of children's attachment relationships. In the classroom, she and her students navigate the social issues and policies related to development.

Her interest in pivotal childhood relationships began while researching children in Efe families—hunter gatherers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. She is currently investigating how children navigate relationships to obtain scarce resources. And she recently participated in international collaborative work critiquing attachment theory and reliance on its research to inform parenting intervention programs worldwide.

Morelli joined Boston College in 1989 and has held several academic and administrative positions. She has also published numerous papers and manuscripts. Her projects have been awarded grants by such prestigious funders as the MacArthur Foundation, the National Science Foundation, and the National Institutes of Health.

Morelli, G.A. (2015). The evolution of attachment theory and and cultures of human attachment in infancy and childhood. In L.A. Jensen (Ed.) Oxford Handbook of Human Development and Culture: An Interdisciplinary Perspective (149-164). New York: Oxford University Press. Read the chapter.Read the abstract.